


Rockabye

by alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Diego has a son, F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, M/M, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Protective Diego Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions
Summary: Diego becomes a single parent at 20 years-old. He was unprepared, but he raised Five with the support of his family. Here are snapshots of their eventful lives together (every chapter is a full year with 2-3 mini-stories).Also: Ben's alive, Vanya doesn't hate them, Reginald isn't a complete monster, and Luther left the academy and didn't become a gorilla. Basically, Hargreeves paradise.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 156





	1. You & Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-write of my first work (Little did They Know), only with a different family dynamic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1: A brief look at Five's biological mother before she drops him in a basket and leaves with Diego. (This is the longest chapter)  
> 2: Choosing a new name

**_May 10, 2010 - 5 days old_ **

“How the fuck did this happen?” Diego shouted through his teeth.

It happened on a hot summer night, Diego was 19 years old and celebrating his graduation from the police academy. He was drunk and dancing in a dark crowded club with a girl whose name he never knew.

Physically speaking, the young woman was the living version of “snow white”, she was stunning. She was almost taller than him, with cheekbones that could cut like one of his knives, and she had the biggest green eyes he had ever seen.

Other than that, he only remembers three things:  
1- She was an exchange college student from France  
2- She loved sweets, she devoured a gigantic banana split with marshmallows, brownies, and chocolate syrup in less than five minutes.  
3- She could be a little aggressive to strangers who didn’t mind their own business

After that night, he completely forgot about her…. until nine months later when she left a basket with a fluffy blanket, a huge envelope, and a freaking newborn baby in front of his apartment door.

“This can’t be fucking happening” Diego was losing it, feeling overwhelmed, desperate, and confused. His reflex on the spot was to pick up his phone and call his six siblings for help.

“Be quiet Diego, you’ll wake him up” Vanya was the first to show up to his rescue, partially because she lived only a few blocks away but mostly because was genuinely worried about her brother, Diego. She was now holding the sleeping baby in her arms and soothing him with lullabies.

“And watch your language! There’s a kid in the room!” Klaus whispered from the other side of the room, earning a glare from Diego.

“Yeah calm down Diego” Ben tried to be the reasonable one. He and Klaus had just arrived after a stop at the grocery for formula and diapers. “It’s going to be okay”

Diego rolled his eyes, looking at the baby from the side of his eyes and breathing heavily with stress.  
“How did she even find you?” Luther asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes after the three hours flight from LA with Allison.

Diego gripped the large envelope on the table and hand it to him “She left me a letter explaining that she was a fan of the Umbrella Academy when she was a kid. She found my phone number and where I work on obsessive fan pages and then followed me.

“Creepy” Vanya whispers and Diego shots her a look

“Not as creepy as leaving a baby here.”

“How are you sure it’s yours anyway?” Luther asks, still in denial.

“I already scheduled a meeting at the clinic. They’re going to run a DNA test and a quick check-up just to be sure he’s okay.” Ben answered with a low voice tone as if he didn’t want to offend the baby

Allison’s eyes had been staring strongly at the baby boy’s miniature feet for a full ten minutes, she was quietly biting her nails and thinking “Why would she leave him? to a stranger?”

“She explains it all here” Diego swallowed hard before passing the envelope to his sister with shaking hands, he sounded so nervous “It wasn’t an easy decision, but she didn’t really have a choice. She’s 17, and it was her first time. She’s an exchange student, she has to go back to her parents who never found out about the pregnancy, they would kick her out if she showed up with a baby.”

A heavy silence filled the room, everyone looked down and tried to process the news. Of course, the baby chose that precise moment to wake up and start crying.

“Oh my god” Vanya turned red, she didn’t know what to do with the screaming toddler moving in her arms. “What do I do”

“Give him to me” Diego’s instincts kicked in strongly when he heard the howls of the distress of his son.

His son.

Picking his son up was like picking up a bomb, he carefully pressed the kid against his chest and bounce slowly to calm him down. “It’s working”

“It’s almost like he recognizes you” Allison quietly noted with a big smile. It was magical, like the baby instantly trusted him.

“Hey, by the way, does he have a name?” Ben asked enthusiastically

Diego rolled his eyes once more, bumping his head towards the envelope once more “Yeah, she chose it. It’s on his birth certificate.”

Allison slowly opened the envelope and tried her best to hold her laugh when she read her nephew’s name for the first time “Florant Hargreeves.”

Diego glared at her and tried to ignore the bursts of camouflaged giggles around the living room “It’s a French name.”

“It’s hideous” Klaus pointed out with certainty.

“I’m aware, I’m never calling him that and I don’t want to hear any of you say it.”

Luther, a little late, pointed out “Hey, he already has our last name. She really doesn’t want to be found huh”

Diego bit his lips and tried to avoid responding, looking down at his angelic baby wiggling in his arms.

Looking at his distress, Allison walked towards him, put her hand on his shoulder, and looked straight into his brown eyes “You got this Diego. You can do this, and you got us. Everything’s going to be okay”

Yeah, Diego thought, we’re gonna be okay.

Later that day, he sat in the clinic waiting room with Ben and his baby, they waited for three hours.

Thankfully the baby only cried twice. The first time, a generous mother with a toddler offered him an unused pacifier with a ladybug on it. It was too big on his newborn baby but at least it calmed him down. The second time, another mom offered to change his diaper. Part of him was scared to let a stranger change his son, but she had three sons and a newborn girl herself so he trusted her skills.

“He’s adorable” Ben exclaimed as he held Five for the first time while Diego rested his arms “He’s so small... and that ladybug thing is giant. Man, I can’t believe you have a baby”

“Neither can I” Diego exclaimed, overthinking and making mental lists of everything that was going to change now “I’m scared, I feel like I’m going to mess up. I don’t know shit about babies”

“Yeah you’re going to mess up,” his brother said calmly

“Gee thanks” he laughed ironically

“No- I mean, you’re new and you’re meant to make mistakes like any new parent. You’re surprised and unprepared, it’s okay to be worried. You’ll just have to keep trying after every mess up. You’ll do your best, and your paternal skills will come, don’t worry. The most important thing will always be to love him and keep him alive.”

He was really freaking out, keeping a mini human alive? Being responsible for another being’s entire life? How am I going to do that?

Meanwhile, Allison was bossing the others around the mall a couple blocked down the clinic, buying diapers, formula, a crib, toys, clothes, pacifiers, baby food, blankets, plastic utensils, childproofing material, baby monitors, and even a book on parenting. They made sure Diego had anything a new parent could ever need.

After four hours of waiting, the doctors took the kid for about 20minutes and came back with a forced smile “Mister Hargreeves, your son is in good health, there’s nothing to worry about. Of course, since he’s a bit underweight, when was the last time you fed him”

Diego froze, his tongue-twisting when he tried to speak “I- I don’t… we’ve only had him for a few hours. I don’t even know how old he is”

The woman’s eyes got warm and her smile became genuine “Monoparent?”

Diego noted uncertain, still hoping this was all a crazy dream.

“Well, the test came back positive so the baby is yours, no question there. He’s four days old, born on May 5th.” She reached into her pocket and took out a bunch of pamphlets about nutrition and sleeping schedules “Well give you an appointment for the upcoming vaccines he’ll need, oh and please go feed your baby. He’s starving, it’s a miracle he’s not screaming your ears out right now.”

She walked away and left Diego alone with distress in his face as he held the baby. A sick small part of him secretly wished that the test would come negative and they would take him away to someone who knew what to do.

However, his heart was jumping from relief at the conferment that this was his son, and that he was healthy. He couldn’t believe how severely attached he was to this little sucker after only seven hours.

Some part of him believed that the newborn could read his thoughts because at that exact moment the newborn wrapped his little soft hand strongly around his dad’s index fingers and cooed adorably. “Hi, son,”

**_MAY 11TH, 2010 – 6 days old_ **

“You’re a grumpy little man, aren’t you?” Diego whispered to his son laying beside him in his bed. “You actually look like an old man, it’s creepy Florant”

The baby’s piercing green eyes were staring at him, hypnotized by his father’s voice.

“Yeah, I will never call you that” Diego stated, looking at the minuscule hands wrapped around his thumb.

They were spending their first night in their new room at Vanya’s. Since Allison and Luther flew back to LA (as nothing but roommates, they swore), and his two other brothers already lived in a small studio, his last and closest option was Vanya. She lived in a child-friendly neighborhood, she was great with kids, and she insisted on them moving in.

So, Diego moved out of his disgusting, hot, small boiling room and sold most of his stuff on eBay and Kijiji. He and his three weeks old baby were now enjoying their new bedroom filled with toys and blue paint.

As Diego fed Five his last bottle of the day, he tried to figure out the perfect nickname “What about Five? Mhm? In honor of your uncle.”

Coincidently, the boy cooed in a sound of agreement, as if he understood everything Diego said.

Diego continued with a sad expression “Yeah I had a brother that you’ll never meet. His name was Five, he died of leukemia when we were eight.”

The story was tragic. The original Five was a sweet girl with olive skin and dark eyes, who sadly got diagnosed at six years old. For a moment, they thought she was going to be okay, she was getting better. Unfortunately, after a devastating cold, Vanya found her dead in her bed and it traumatized her.”

“You’ll have your own number, just between uncle Klaus and uncle Ben, what do you say?” Diego tickled the boy and listened to the joyful giggle filling the room “Yeah, Five fits you well.”

After a short improvised lullaby, the boy fell asleep in his new crib while his father watched over him like a bodyguard “I love you Five, and we’re going to be okay”

**_JANUARY 20TH, 2011 – 8 months old_ **

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Vanya asked with a pitch of guilt in her coffee brown eyes.

“What other choice do we have?” Diego mumbled bitterly, looking at his baby in the backseat of the car.

Today was Five’s first day of daycare. Diego wasn’t too happy about it, he could already feel the separation anxiety coming.

Their original schedule was pretty good: he would spend the entire day with his baby, taking care of him while Vanya worked as a waitress and attended her daily practices. Then around 10 pm when she got home, he would put Five to sleep a leave him under the surveillance of his sister. He would normally come home around 4 am and have a few minutes of peace before Five woke up. He would for it all again, even on weekends, only catching some quick naps in between meals, park walks, and baths.

After almost a year of shitty shift, he finally got offered a higher place, with a better salary and a saner schedule. He had earned it. Sadly, it also meant that he wouldn’t be free all daytime anymore, so Five had to enter daycare.

“You did the right thing, you needed this job. You need the money, the assurance, the stability. Diego, you know how expensive kids are; school, medical emergencies, clothes, birthdays, holidays, and just everyday stuff. This is a good thing”

“I know,” Diego said drily. Vanya was right, he wanted to offer his son a good life, he needed the money “It’s just hard, I’ve never let him with anyone but you, and that’s just cause you’re amazing with kids, it’s like a superpower.”

Vanya snorted “A superpower, how ironic”

Diego blushed, realizing what he had just said “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that”

“I know, it’s okay” She looked between him and Five, and smiled “It’s funny, out of all of us, you’re the one I would have least imagined to see all overprotective-dad.”

Diego frowned, but thinking back about it, she was right. His son was his life, he had turned his world around and completely changed him, he had never loved anyone like he loved his son “I would never let anything happen to him, he’s my life.”

Vanya held his hand “Nothing is going to happen to him”

Diego took a deep breath and armed himself with courage. He picked up his baby and the 'Sesame Street' backpack full of his stuff and walked towards the daycare front door. It was heartbreaking to see his kid’s confused eyes as he passed him to his assigned caretaker, Mrs. Cathy. Five was smart and he knew what was going on, he knew how to use his giant puppy dog eyes and tear up slowly with quiet sobs as he watched his dad walkout.

Diego got back to the car and sat in the front seat crying quietly as Vanya tried to reassure him.

Later that afternoon, as he picked up his son from daycare after a full day without him, Diego held him tighter than he had ever before. Truth to be told, his first time away from Five was way harder for him than for the kid.


	2. cake & depression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1 YEAR OLD 
> 
> 1: Five's first birthday   
> 2: Diego opens up to Ben about a harsh topic.

_**MAY 5th, 2011 – 1-year-old** _

It was Five's first birthday and the Hargreeeves family was making a huge deal out of it.

Since Diego didn’t know any other parent and he hadn’t made friends at his new workplace yet, they weren't throwing a big party. Instead, they were just spending quality family time with decorations and a 'Paw Patrol' cake.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” Diego asked his sister

“Because it’s my only nephew’s first birthday, it’s important” Allison replied from where she was icing the cupcakes and cookies.

“He’s not even going to remember any of this” Vanya asked with a slightly annoyed look as she witnesses her apartment getting covered in balloons, glitter, and gifts.

“That’s why I’ll be taking pictures!” Klaus was smiling wildly as he carried his camera around. Diego realized that he had been bringing that everywhere for the last couple of months, but he never asked about Klaus’ sudden interest in photography.

“Do you realize we haven’t been all in the same room since we first met Five?” Ben remarked, glaring at Allison and Luther

“We were here for the holidays!” Luther replied defensively, pointing at the gigantic Teddy Bear in the corner of the living room (too big to fit in any bedroom) that Allison and he had gifted Five for his first Christmas. "It's not our fault if we live across the country. Plus you're one to talk, you haven't even been in the country in months."

Ben smiled, thinking back at the eventful year he had in Germany for a student exchange. He had only arrived two weeks earlier and moved back in with Klaus. He looked at Five sitting in his high chair and eating cheerios, Ben picked him up and kissed his coconut smelling head “When I left, this little cutie was no heavier than a pillow and now he looks like a little dwarf”

“Yeah he’s one chubby baby” Klaus added.

“A beautiful potato with legs” Allison added.

"Look at those chipmunk cheeks!" Vanya added.

"He kinda looks like an egg" Luther added.

“Stop fat shaming my son” Diego stepped in protectively and changed the subject “You know I’m actually a little worried, most kids his age are already walking”

“Don’t worry, he’s a little genius. I can already imagine him skipping a grade and doing other kid’s homework for money” Klaus had already pictured it plenty of times, Five was going to be a nerd baddie.

Klaus had actually spent a lot of time with little Five. When Ben left for the student exchange, everyone worried about Klaus. For the first couple of weeks, Diego and Vanya had to take turns visiting him and making sure he was going to work, staying sober, and not going out too late. Surprisingly, Klaus wasn’t annoyed even a little, on the contrary, he loved the company. Above all, he loved seeing his nephew.

He would spend every all his free time with Five, using employee discounts to buy toys, learning every lullaby on Youtube, and constantly sending Diego Facebook links about any baby-related information. Klaus cleverly used those six months when Ben wasn’t around to prove to his family that he could be responsible, mature, and balanced, on his own. All he needed was motivation, and his reason was Five.

Five was his everything now.

“Anyway, are you ready to open your gifts, buddy?” Ben asked as he walked towards the living room where they had all dropped their gifts.

“Why are there only four gifts?” Diego asked with shame in his voice.

Luther answered with his mouth full of Doritos “Allison and I bought ours together”

Diego glared at both of them “You cheap idiots”

“Hey!” Allison defensively screamed, startling the baby still in Ben's arms “Just open the damn thing!”

“Jeez calm down,” Diego said in that snarky voice he knew pissed Allison off. Out of all the siblings, those two had been the farthest from each other. Even Diego and Luther who were always fighting used to spend more time together, or Allison and Vanya who still shared a lot of interests. Diego and Allison had nothing in common, every one of their interactions ended in fights because they were always bitches to each other.

Ben put the baby down and he directly crawled to the biggest gift in the living room with a huge smile on his face. Diego sat beside him, watching the one-year-old try his best to unwrap the giant present “Come on buddy!"

Five did his best to tear it off with his tiny nails, and as the gift revealed itself the most adorable gasp left Five’s little body “Wow”

“Wow indeed!” Diego’s eyes opened wild looking at the most gigantic toy car race track he had ever seen. Even after growing up in a multi-millionaire family with six children, he had never seen such an expensive and flashy toy. “Where did you…”

“We bought it in an exclusive toy store in LA and shipped it, it got here just in time.” Allison smiled and admired her nephew’s enthusiasm as he explored his new toy with his eyes full of wonder. “I don’t know if he likes cars but I know you loved them when we were little”

“I still do,” Diego said avoiding her eyes, but smiling awkwardly “Thanks, he loves it. Buddy, say thank you to Uncle Luther and aunt Allison”

Of course, Five doesn’t talk yet but he energetically waved at both of them and giggled when Allison waved back. Klaus took another picture with flash, blinding Five momentarily and making him fall on his butt. They laughed until Klaus interrupted, pointing at Luther and loudly accused “Wait a second… Oh my god, you’ve never held Five have you?!”

“Euh.. what?” Luther was a horrible liar and he could never come up with ideas on the spot, leaving him looking dumb. “Yes, I have! Plenty of times!”

“No, you haven’t! You’ve been avoiding it, staying far from him, have you ever even held his hand?”

Luther opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, failing to defend himself, and instead of admitting defeat “No you’re right, I have never held Five. Never really approached him either”

“Why the hell Luther? He’s not a savage dog with lice!” Diego attacked, looking like a savage dog himself.

“I’m just stressed! What if he hates me? What if he cries? What if I drop him? What if I squeeze him too hard?” Luther’s tone got higher, his heartbeat accelerating with fear as he imagined the harm he could cause his nephew. “I just don’t want to hurt him”

Diego swallowed, biting his lips as he looked between Five and Luther. He got up, picked up his son, and slowly walked towards Luther expecting him to hold his arms up and grab the kid “Here you go. If Klaus can learn to take care of a baby, so can you.”

Luther had no time to react, Diego practically threw him the kid and he caught him on his lap. Diego didn't look at all worried, in fact, he was laughed quietly. He knew that Five could already hold his balance perfectly, that he would just whine if he was uncomfortable, and that even in the worst-case scenario he had already survived worst falls.

“…hi there” Luther looked down awkwardly and saluted.

Five stared up at him, mouth opened and eyes analyzing this new face he had only seen 3 times: when he was born, on Christmas, and today. He of course didn’t remember any of that, but for some reason, he trusted the large blond man treating him like a porcelain doll. Five leaned back, resting his head on Luther’s torso like a side hug, making everyone ‘awwn’ in response.

Klaus snapped another picture and exclaimed “See! Babies can see inside people’s soul, he knows you’re a big harmless dingus”

This was partially true, Five could easily feel Luther’s innocent, childlike spirit with a big heart under all that muscle.

They continued the gifts, opening Vanya’s colorful toy xylophone, Ben’s pile of cute new children books he found in Europe.

Klaus’s turn was unexpected. He got up proudly and handed in a simple large book with a bow on top. Diego held it and opened it carefully “Oh wow”

It was a milestone book. The cover was a pale blue with a puppy image and a picture of newborn Five. Inside were a hundred pages with random images marked ‘Five smiling’, ‘Five sleeping’, ‘First time seeing Santa’, ‘Five taking a bath’, ‘Five’s first tooth’, ‘Klaus’ first day alone with Five’, ‘Five’s first time crawling’, ‘Klaus losing Five for the first time’, and so much more. The pictures were adorable, they looked professional, and the scrapbook was so delicate.

“Klaus… you did all this?” Diego was speechless, trying so hard to not cry.

“Yeah! That’s why I bought the camera in the first place. It was an amazing hobby, I left a bunch of pages off to continue it”

Diego looked at him with big watery eyes and smiled “Thank you so much, Klaus”

“Anything for my nephew” Klaus answered with a similar smile, looking at Five who was already trying to eat the scrapbook. “Are you hungry little man? Is it cake time!?”

Five clapped at his uncle’s cheerful tone and made everyone’s heart warm. The night proceeds until Five fell asleep and the siblings got invested in drinking games. After 2 am when everyone felt asleep around the living room, Klaus quietly reached the glue, the crayons, and added a new page in the milestone book ‘Five’s first birthday party’

And yet another one ‘Five’s first official family meeting’

**_MAY 10th, 2010_ **

Five was glued to the TV, watching Ice Age for the hundredth time. Laughing at the same jokes and clapping his little hands over and over again. Five was a fan of comfort, he didn’t like new things, he liked familiarity.

“He shouldn’t be watching his much TV” Ben argued at his brother.

“Get off my back” Diego replied not even looking up. “What do you want? And who gave you the key to my apartment?”

“Vanya did, it’s hers.” Ben rolled his eyes and welcomed himself into the apartment “I just wanted to check up on you and Five, I hadn’t seen you in three weeks. I was worried.”

“You could have called” Diego answered with an even ruder tone, still not looking up from his cereal.

“I did" Ben was trying to keep his cool but it was hard to deal with Diego's pettiness " Klaus and I called you every night and it always went to voicemail. If it wasn’t for Vanya assuring us you were okay, we would have thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Diego took one last night bite of cereal before walking towards the dishwasher “Well you can see me now, I’m fine, now go”

“Okay what the fuck is wrong with you dude” Ben finally snapped grabbing Diego’s arm and staring straight at his eyes “Diego, talk to me, why are you avoiding us?”

Diego didn’t want to answer, to be honest, he was too embarrassed to say anyone, but unconsciously his eyes danced around the room until they fell on his son. He threw a long look at Five, his adorable boy still cooing at the TV.

Ben caught up and frowned “Is something wrong?”

“No” Diego took a long breath, trying to decide whether or not to tell Ben. This was the sibling he was closest to, the one he would trust with his own life, or better with his son's life. So, he decided to tell him. “Actually yes, it’s about Five”

Ben looked even more concerned "What happened to Five? Did he do something? Is he going through a phase?”

“Five’s not doing anything wrong…” Diego struggled, he sat down in the living room across from Five, keeping his eyes on him to give him strength for what he was about to say. “I’m just not okay, Ben”

Ben sat closely beside his brother on the couch, confused and worried “What do you mean?”

Diego opened and closed his mouth, eyes watering, cheeks turning red, and sweat running down his face. His voice cracked when he silently repeated “I’m just not okay. I’m fucked up.”

“Diego…” Ben gripped his brother’s shoulders protectively, not used to seeing any of his brothers cry “Why are you saying that?”

“I’m just not meant to be a dad,” Diego said drily, leaving Ben speechless. After a short silence, Diego continued “I love Five, I really do, he’s my life… but sometimes I wonder if he’s better off without me.”

Maybe it was Ben’s silence proving him right, or the rain pouring down the window, or his baby waving at him from across the room with his charming smile, but at that moment Diego broke down.

“I think I should have just left him at a foster house and let some lame married couple adopt him. he would have a normal family, and parents who know what they're doing, and who can give him the life he deserves. I’m trying my best but it’s just not enough.” He was sobbing in between words, breathing heavily.

He was trying his best to hide his face from Five because he knew the baby would cry if he saw his father crying. “Some nights, when he doesn't stop crying, I can't stop myself from thinking about packing my things and running away. Ben, I hate myself so much for it.”

At this point, Ben was crying harder than poor Diego. He was bawling his eyes out at the thought of not having Five in their lives.

“Ben, I really hate myself for saying this but I miss my life. I miss sleeping through the night, I miss partying with my friends, I miss going on spontaneous road trips, I miss hooking up at clubs, I miss getting drunk with you and Klaus and I miss… I miss my life.”

Ben really didn’t know how to respond, or how to help his brother in distress “Diego, since when have you been feeling like this?”

“I don’t know” Diego shrugged, biting his nails nervously “I guess for six weeks now, I’m just so tired, and I can’t bring myself outside, I’m doing horribly at my work. From then it just went down, you know spending my entire weekends watching Disney movies and changing diapers didn’t help.”

Ben reached for the remote control and tuned up the volume to make sure Five couldn’t hear them cry. “Diego, do you want to give Five away”

Rage filled Diego’s body instantly, he felt like slapping his brother across the face for even asking that “Of course not you fucking dumbass. I just told you I loved him, he’s the most important thing in my life, he’s everything I have.”

“Then why are you saying that?” Ben hissed

“You wanted to know!” Diego hissed back

Ben swallowed hard and prepared to do his best “Diego, I know this is hard. You weren’t expecting it, and you’ve been an amazing dad so far, The way you dropped everything for Five and instantly made him your priority, any dad would be jealous. You’re doing great and getting better every day. Five loves you so much, he smiles every time you step in the room, he can’t spend a night away from you, he idolizes you.”

Diego was sniffing, trying to concentrate on all the good things Ben was saying to motivate him “Yeah, he’s perfect.”

At last, Ben finally said what needed to be said “Diego, you need help. Professional help, from a psychologist or something. I know you love Five, and I love you’re going to get through this, you just need a hand.”

Diego reflected, not really finding any argument against Ben because he knew how right his brother was. Before he could say anything, Ben tapped his shoulder making him lookup.

“Shit, Diego look!” Ben pointing at the corner where Five was- he was standing on his own. “Five’s about to walk!”

Diego was the one at the loss of words from shook, he had been waiting for this moment for eight weeks now “Five, buddy, yes! That’s it! Come here!”

The kid smiled at him with shine, throwing his hands at his dad as he made his first step towards him.

“Oh god,” Ben finally reacted, taking his cellphone out of his back pocket to film his nephew’s first steps.

“Come on Five, come here! Come to daddy!” Diego repeated, getting slowly closer to Five just to make sure he would catch him if he fell, but Five didn’t fall. He quickly ran to his dad’s like a natural, wrapping his small hands around the 20-year-old’s torso. “You did it Five! Good job little man!”

It was the perfect moment. The sigh of his son’s first step reminded Diego of every moment of happiness they share, of everything they had accomplished in the last year, and of everything he had yet to go through with his son.

Just the two of them, forever.

In the following week, Diego got in contact with Vanya’s therapist and found out he had depression. His family started spending even more time with him and Five to help him go back to normal. With all the help, the support, and his baby's love, he got through everything. It was all going to be okay.


	3. Messes & modeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2 YEARS OLD - 
> 
> \- 1: Ben's first time alone with Five,  
> \- 2: Klaus & Five are business partheners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first one is based on my own babysitting story, and the second one is based on my first time modeling story lmao.

_**June 2nd, 2012** _

Ben wasn’t really around on the first few ears of Five’s life, not by choice but by circumstance.

“College was killing me. I can’t believe I’m finally done. All those sleepless nights studying, all those parties I passed on to do homework, all those weekends I spent at my internship… it’s finally all over.”

It is! congrats man!” Diego raised his beer in one hand, holding his toddler in the other. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to your graduation”

“That’s okay” Ben opened a bottle for himself and played cheers with his nephew “It was long, hot, crowded, and loud, Five would’ve hated it”

Diego rolled his eyes, he knew how much his son hated big crowds. Just a simple trip to the grocery store would always end up in whines, sweat, and tears from both of them. “So, what are you up to now?”

Ben sighed deeply, not being sure of what to answer. He had gotten a degree in literature, desperately wanting to become a writer which he knew wouldn’t pay the bills until he published something good. Thank god, at least his dickhead father agreed to pay the cost of his university after stating that Ben was _“his only education worthy son”._

“It’s okay if you don’t have an answer, Ben, you don’t have to have a specific plan for our entire life,” Diego reassured him. At that moment, Diego’s phone ringed and he pulled away to answer with a somewhat angry voice.

“Is everything okay?” Ben asked

“No, actually, job-related problem. I think we need to go,” he said looking shaken, putting Five down to put on his jacket and pick up his son’s things. “Come on Fivey”

Ben acted on impulse and didn’t think before asking “Do you want me to watch him?”

Diego was taken off guard for a second but the grateful look on his face was clear “Really? Thank you so much! I’ll come back soon okay?”

Normally, in this sort of situation, Five stays with Vanya, but she always worked extra-shifts on summers because that’s when she had the most students. Plan B was to leave him with the teenage babysitter a floor below, but she was on a school trip. Finally, plan C was Klaus, but he was out on a suspicious date.

Diego kissed his son’s head, sniffing his coconut shampoo, and patted his brother’s shoulder “Thanks, Ben! See you Five!”

The door clacked and it took Ben a second to realize what he was doing. He was alone with his two-year-old nephew, for the first time.

Realistically, he knew what to do. He had changed his diapers, he had rocked him to sleep, he had made formula, he had played peekaboo with him for hours. He could do this, right?

“DADDY! NO!” Five’s scream shook him out of his thoughts. Apparently, the kid had just realized what was going on as well, his dad let him with his uptight, nervous, goofy uncle Ben.

“No, no, no, please don’t cry! Five, kid, stop.” Ben keeled down to grab the kid but he only screamed higher and ran away from him. “Five!”

It went on for a while. The crying, the yelling, the running, and the struggling. After what felt like an eternity, Ben decided to simply sit on the ground with a bag of marshmallows and a bottle of chocolate milk, and slowly Five approached him like a dog. They sat one in front of the other and ate in tranquility.

The chaos started when Five demanded "water!"

Ben used his baby voice to reply "Say please"

And the look of discontent and annoyment in Five's face was worthy of a hormonal teenager. He demanded louder "WATER!"

"Ok ok, Jeez" Ben really wasn't up to discipline today. Besides, considering that Vanya and Klaus were both always spoiling the kid and letting him get away with everything, he wasn't red to be labeled " _the mean uncle_ " yet. He got up and searched for the 'Toy Story' plastic cup he had recently bought for him, he filled I'm with room-temperature water from the sink and came back "Here you go"

Five drank the whole thing rapidly before asking "More"

Before Ben could take the cup away from the baby and pour him more water, the kid got up and ran to the sink himself. Ben surprisingly understood what the kid wanted "You want to pour it yourself?"

Five noted and his uncle raised him from the ground so that he was tall enough to reach the sink and fill his cup of water. After being let down on the ground again, he drank it all and asked once more "water"

This little pattern went on four more times before Ben finally gave up "No Five you drank six times now"

"Last time" Five promised with his adorable green puppy dog eyes

Ben decided one more time wasn't going to hurt anyone and raised Five off the ground, let him or water into the cup, and put I'm back down "There you go. That was the last time"

The toddler looked inside the glass unsure of what to do, clearly not thirsty anymore.

At that exact moment, his uncle kneeled down to tie his undone show, and Five saw it as an opportunity to splash the entire cup of water directly into Ben's face. At that moment, seeing himself on one knee, soaking wet, with his nephew giggling in his face, Ben's reflex was to laugh too "Oh you little monster"

Five, being the smart kid he was, ran to the bathroom and came back with the entire toilet paper roll and ditched it into the water mess "All clean!"

Ben just laughed, not really knowing what else to do "Real troublemaker aren't you"

At some point after nightfall, Klaus waltzed into the apartment with a bag of Chinese food to see both boys hiding in a pillow fort and watching cartoons "Hello family!”

“Uncle Klaus!” Five greeted with intense enthusiasm, secretly making Ben a little jealous. It was understandably for the boy to know Klaus more after the two spent every weekend together for his entire life, but it still made his heartache.

“FIVEY!” Klaus picked him up with even more energy, looking happier than he has looked in a month. “What are you doing here buddy?”

“Daddy left,” Five said, half informing Klaus and half reminding himself.

Ben changed the subject before Five could start crying again “What’s up with you? Why are you in such good humous?”

“Ben, do you believe in true love?” Klaus asked, head in the clouds and gaze unfocused, Ben just raised his eyebrows and shrugged “Because I didn’t. Until I met the man of my dreams.”

“What?” was all Ben said, not believing a word his brother was saying "What are you talking about?"

"His name is Dve" Klaus sat down with Five on his lap and asked "Fivey, are you ready to hear a true love story?" 

_**September 18TH, 2012** _

Diego was in the front seat of his car, singing his lungs out to ‘My Chemical Romance’ with his two-year-old giggling in the back seat. Even getting stuck in the traffic was fun when your toddler was the coolest boy in the world.

“Had fun at daycare today Five?” Diego asked looking at the rear-view mirror.

“Yes,” the kid answered adorably 

It was all games and rock music until something came to Diego’s attention “What the fucking hell.”

It was a gigantic poster of his son, 30 feet large and glued to the roof of a mall.

“Are you seeing this Five?” Diego wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating, maybe just seeing his baby everywhere, or if his son was truly modeling for a huge ass store.

“It’s me!” Five pointed at the poster with this cocky smile, true model indeed.

“How did this happen?!” Diego’s head was running filthy miles per hour. How did his baby end up there? Who took him? When? Was this a clone? What the fuck?

And then he remembered.

He picked up his phone and dialed.

“Hello” Klaus picked up from the other line, sounding half asleep.

“Klaus.” Diego said through his teeth, clearly sounding mad “What did you do with my son?”

Klaus swallowed strongly, knowing exactly what his brother was talking about “What?”

“Why. Is. My. Son. On. A. Giant. Poster. Over. The. Mall. ?” Diego talked louder.

“What are you accusing me of Diego? I have no idea what you are talking about.” Klaus acted innocent but used that high-pitched voice that made him sound like he was hiding something.

“KLAUS!” Diego could picture Klaus jump after he screamed.

“Ok! ok !” Klaus sighed, knowing he was about to get in big trouble “I was at work and I heard the manager saying they were auditioning for the new faces of the store. I just made an innocent joke about how my nephew could win that easily because he's the cutest, most handsome, and smart toddler in the universe. I showed them pictures of Fivey and they were in awe, they asked to meet him! I brought him to the store and he was such an angel! He didn’t cry, he behaved so well, he posed like a natural, he was amazing! They loved him!”

Diego looked back at Five and thought _"That's when you chose to behave seriously?"_

“And then… they got him a manager, who got him into a dippers’ commercial, and an orange juice commercial, and a toys store magazine, and the calls kept on going.” Klaus couldn’t stop rambling, he is ridiculously bad at being discreet.

“Wait, so this isn't a one-time thing?” Diego’s eyes were wide open in disbelief

“No... I think we’ve booked over 15 gigs by now. They love him! He’s such a little professional!”

Diego’s anger was slowly creeping back up “How long has this been going on?”

“Eh… it’s been a year now”

“What the fuck Klaus!” To be honest, Diego wasn’t only mad at Klaus but also mad at himself for not noticing it. How could he be so dumb to believe that his brother was snow totally normal and asking his son to swimming lessons and sports center, instead of managing his son’s first career? “So this is why you were asking for more time with Five?”

“yeah” Klaus sounded a little guilty, but he didn’t regret it “I mean we really bonded! He’s so good, and now my boss loves me, and I’m making friends in the field, and he made friends too!”

Diego’s eyebrows raised “How much money did he make?”

“A big fat 25$ an hour baby!” Klaus exclaimed “And don’t worry, I didn’t spend it, I’ve kept all the checks intact so you can put them in the bank. For Five, you know, it’s his work after all”

"Yes it is" Diego smiled at his brother’s caring tone “but it was your idea, and you’ve been handling everything and driving him around, so what do you say we can do half and half. What do you say?" 

“It’s a deal! Ben’s going to be proud of me for all my savings” Klaus could hear Five mumbling an AC/DC song in the back of the car and that was the highlight of his day “Hey, can we still continue?"

"I'll think about it" Diego smiled at his brother’s caring tone "I don't have much battery, but this isn't the end of this conversation Klaus.”

Klaus groaned and Diego hanged up, smiling to himself as he pictured his son walking down a red carpet with his sister someday.

“Daddy” Five called from the back seat “The volume”

Diego turned up the volume of the radio and snickered, trying to wrap his head about what he had just learned “My son’s a diva star, that actually explains some things”


	4. Umbrella Academy & Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 YEARS OLD 
> 
> 1- Five meets his grandparents and Pogo  
> 2- Powers time!

_**October 1st, 2013** _

Diego,s heart was going too fast. He was parked in front of his childhood house, with his son in the back seat, about to step in for the first time in over six years.

“Daddy, where are we?” Five asked looking at the immense mansion with umbrellas on the front door and every window.

“Son, this is where your uncles, aunts, and I grew up.” Diego explained as if it was a legend told one too many times “This is the Umbrella Academy”

“The superhero’s academy?” Five’s eyes glowed with fascination

Diego laughed, half regretting those bedtime stories he told Five when they both got sick of the Grimm’s fairy tales. “Yep and today is a special day Five”

“It’s your birthday!” the kid cheered

Diego chuckled “Yes, it is but it’s also….”

Five cut him “My uncles' and aunts' birthday because you are all twins”

Diego shook his head “No Five, we’re not twins, twins are set of two. Plus, we’re all adopted.”

Five’s eyebrow took a weird shape “What does ‘adopted’ mean?”

“It means that an adult bought someone else’s kid and raised him like their own” Diego said with a monotone voice, not really putting much thought into it.

“Who bought you guys?” Five asked with a tilted head and a confused expression

Diego pointed at the house and got closed to Five’s little face “A bad man with a lot of money, his name is Reginald. He raised us alongside a beautiful and caring woman called Grace. They live in there”

Five looked puzzled but not lost, he was just proceeding with this new addition to his little happy world “So they’re your parents?”

“Yes, and they’re your grandparents” Diego smiled as he watched his son’s excitement “and I thought you’d like to meet them today.”

They knocked at the door, Five jumping up and down from the excitement, smiling from ear to ear.

Pogo opened the door slowly, only peaking an eye out and freezing when he recognized the man “Master Diego, nice to see you”

Five’s jaw dropped. The kid grabbed on to his father’s hands instantly and his eyes opened wide like a button “a… a monkey”

“A chimpanzee actually” Pogo corrected and laughed, bending down with his cane to greet him “Who do we have here?”

Five was too in shock to answer, so Diego cleared his throat and replied “This is Five, my son.”

Pogo smiled warmly, not able to move his eyes away from the adorable 3-year-old “Hi Five, would you like to come in? Grace just baked a chocolate cake”

The stepped in slowly, Five looking up at all the strange artifacts, the expensive paintings, and the enormous living room where a blond lady was standing. She was wearing a puffy 50’s dress and had this most charming smile he had ever seen.

“Diego dear, you’re back” The woman walked to them and Diego dropped Five’s hand to wrap his arms around his mother. Tears of happiness were forming in his eyes as the woman hugged him back tightly “I missed you my sweet boy”

“I missed you too mom”

“Oh and happy birthday! Can’t believe how fast time flew by” She passed her hand through his hair like she would do when they were little.

“Thanks mom” He cleared his throat and turned around to face his son “I want you to meet my son, Five”

Grace’s smile grew even more as she kneeled and held her hand out to the shy little boy hiding behind his dad’s leg. “Look at that adorable little boy!”

Five accepted the hand and asked “Are you, my grandma?”

“Yes I am my love” Grace responded with her soft voice and then pinched his nose to make hi giggle

“Then why aren’t you old?” he asked with some mispronunciation.

“Because I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables!” From the side of her view, she saw Diego rolling his eyes remembering how his father would force all of them to eat all their greens. On the other hand, he didn’t have the time or motivation to force his own son hotheaded to eat that disgusting stuff. “Now follow me”

She took the boy’s hand and Diego followed close behind, they stopped in the kitchen where she served them both a piece of her double chocolate cake. “Thank you!”

While Five was distracted with sweet, Diego sat close to his mother and the two caught up for a while: about Five, about Diego’s job, about what his siblings were up to, about the past and the future.

Grace listened closely, taken away by her loving son’s chatting, she missed him so much. They talked and talked and talked for almost an hour, until suddenly “Where is Five?”

Grace was caught off guard, she was made to keep kids safe and yet she didn’t hear the toddler vanish from the room. She checked her internal cameras and replied “He’s in the game room, with your father”

Diego turned pale instantly, there was no way he would ever let his son alone with that despicable man “WHAT? HELL NO-”

He sprinted to the main hall, to the so-called game-room where his dad used to let them play when they were a lot younger. He got there and kicked the door open to witness the one picture he never thought he would see: Reginald Hargreeves sitting crisscross-applesauce on the floor making dinosaur noises.

In front of him was Five, laughing uncontrollably and hugging a T-Rex figurine. They seemed to be having fun too much fun to notice Diego standing there catching his breath. “Five?”

The kid looked up and showed the toy to his father “DAD! LOOK! Grandpa has so many toys!”

Diego’s immediate reaction was to pull Five closer to him and scream, his face red and a vein popping out of his forehead “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!”

Reginald didn’t even flinch, he sighed with some disappointment “Number Two, it’s been a long time”

“Five, why did you leave the kitchen? We've talked about running away” Diego was shaking from anger, voice raising at every word

Five hadn’t really seen his dad so pissed before, the kid instantly dropped the toy and hurried to reply “Sorry, but I found grandpa!"

Seeing Diego’s silence, Reginald stepped in “You have a very clever son, number two. He’s quite advanced for his age”

“Stop, leave him alone.” Diego dragged the boy out of the room, walking with loud steps “Five, let’s go, we’re going home”

“WAIT!” Five yelled when he finally got off his father’s grip. He ran back and left Diego in awe when he wrapped his hands around Reginald’s neck tightly “Bye Grandpa”

The kid pulled away to see the old men’s surprise and unbrotherly walked to Grace to hug her too. “Bye Grandma”

“See you soon little Five!” his grandma said before kissing him on the forehead.

The kid pulled away and lastly hugged the talking chimpanzee in the vert and minuscule glasses “You tickle!”

Pogo just hugged the kid back, making him laugh louder “Have a nice day master Five”

The three-year-old finally came back to his dad and held the man’s hand. Diego didn’t say anything else, just smiled at his mom once last time before picking his son up and racing out.

On the road back home, Diego just thought about his son’s first interaction with the people who raised him. Five was usually rude with strangers, he pretended to be shy to avoid talking to anyone he didn’t know. So seeing how open he was with his mom, seeing the way he hugged them after only knowing them for a couple of minutes, and the way he interacted with Reginald…

“Five, what did grandpa tell you? Did he say something mean?” The word ‘grandpa’ hurt Diego’s tone, he wouldn’t believe he was actually dressing to Reginald with that.

Five also seemed troubled by the question, but for a totally different reason “No, he was very nice. He’s funny!”

 _“I’m not sure we’re talking about the same person,”_ Diego thought

About a week had passed when Diego heard a knock at the door “Coming!”

He opened it and greeted the two men dressed in long black suits, holding about three large boxes each “Diego Hargreeves?”

“This is him” Diego didn't move when the two men entered his apartment to drop all the boxes in his living room. They got backed out and nodded at him in a polite way before handing him a letter “Thanks?”

At the sound of the door shutting loudly, Five ran to the living room and spotted the packages “HE SENT IT!”

“Who? What?” To say Diego was confused would be a misunderstanding, but seeing his son’s excitement he still hurried to open the first box.

It turned out to be six large boxes filled with all sorts of toys and clothes. Kitchen sets, cars, superhero figurines, legos, dolls, music stuff, unfinished coloring books, and so much more. Five was jumping up and down “YES! I KNEW HE WOULD DO IT!”

“Five what is this?” Diego asked even more confused than he was before opening the packages.

“It’s from Grandpa. He promised he would send me his toys” Five wasn’t really listening anymore, he was looking through the toys to find his beloved “MR. T-REX!”

With a puzzled smile on his face, Diego watched his son hug the dinosaur he was playing with the day he met his grandfather. The kid ran to his room to put it on his bed, meanwhile, Diego read the letter given to him by the two strange men:

_Greetings,_

_This is a gift for Number Five, my first grandson._

_He seemed to like the toys, and we don,t have much to do with them._

_If you don't want them, give them to charity._

_Good day,_

_Sir Reginald Hargreeves_

A part of Diego wanted to rip the letter apart and throw the so-called gift out. This sick game his father was playing must have a high evil goal, he thought. However, he did his best to compose himself for his son, who for some reason had an amazing image of said man. He couldn't stop thinking about how charismatic his father had been towards this kid... maybe he wasn't as bad?"

With a smile on his face, Diego watched his son hug the dinosaur he was playing with the day he met his grandfather. The kid ran to his room to put it on his bed, meanwhile, Diego found a letter attached to one of the boxes:

What Diego know, was that his father was not as much as a villain as he and his siblings pictured him. None of them could remember this, but Reginald actually did hold them as baby, and he used to tuck them in, and he used to hold their hands, and he used to run a full medical check every time the sneezed, and he used to watch them play in that game room with a smile on his face. Although, when they about six years old, he changed. He realized he was getting too attached, he realized he was making them too sentimental, and he realized he wasn’t made to be a father.

Of course, he would never say that out loud, and his children would never know.

“Daddy, are we going to see grandpa, grandma, and Pogo again?” Five disturbed Diego out of his thoughts

The men looked down at the kid and couldn’t find him in his heart to deny him of this moment “Yeah Five, we’ll visit them again”

“YAY!”

_**April 21 st, 2014** _

There they were, three dumbasses standing in a triangle, playing throw and catch with a toddler.

No, the toddler wasn’t playing, the toddler was the ball.

“Klaus, you drop my son and you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel” Diego warned as Klaus threw him the kid.

He then threw it to Ben who replied “It’s hard to catch him when he’s wiggling so much”

Klaus caught him next and asked “Yeah he’s getting heavy. Aren’t you dizzy Five?”

“No!” Five’s laughter echoed through the room, being thrown left and right might just be his favorite new game. It was a big contrast from when they were all holding him like a porcelain doll, treating him like he was the most fragile thing ever.

It all became a little less funny when Klaus’s arms gave out and he didn't catch the kid “Oh fuck”

To Five, however, it was all more hilarious, because he never touched the ground. Instead, a blue shape entered his little body and from one second to another he was gone.

He fucking teleported.

All three men were left in shock, unable to move a muscle. Diego’s heart was still acting up from the thought of his son falling and hitting his head, but now also mortified after seeing the kid vanish like a ghost.

Before they had time to start calling his name, the blue light appeared again a couple of steps further from the living room and Five popped back out laughing even louder “THAT WAS SO FUN! AGAIN!”

“Hs he ever done that before?” Klaus asked discreetly, without taking his eyes off his nephew.

Diego, still too in chook to use words, just slowly shook his head. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Ben kneeling at Five’s height to talk

“Five, kiddo, how did you do that?” he asked and the kid just shrugged “Can you do it again?”

Five winced his nose and closed his eyes tightly, he almost looked like he was constipated. After a few moments, he gave up “No”

“I have an idea” Klaus claimed, he picked up the kid and placed him over the kitchen counter. The boy stood on his feet and watched Klaus put some cousins on the floor in front of him “ Whenever you’re ready, jump to my arms okay Fivey?”

The kid looked down and was a little reassured by the ton of pillows on the floor, he nodded and bent his knees ready to jump “I’m ready”

“Good” Klaus took a deep breath and prepared himself to get screamed at by his overprotective brothers “JUMP!”

Five did as told and jumped off the counter, only a millisecond afterward his uncle stepped back and let gravity do his work. Thankfully, Klaus’ plan was successful and the kid acted on reflex and spaced jumped again.

He appeared back on the counter with a pale tone, not expecting that at all “You let me fall!”

“But Five! You did it again!” Klaus cheered and hoped for his nephew to forget about the fact that he almost let him fall from a five-foot counter.

Diego finally reacted, approaching his son to hug him and kiss his head “Oh god, my little monkey has powers”

Five just giggled in his dad’s arms “I’m a superhero like you guys”

Diego’s mind was going fifty miles an hour: _Does he have multiple powers? Should I train him? Is he going to teleport out of the house? Was this going to be life-changing or could they just ignore it? Does this mean his future nieces or nephews were going to have powers too? Oh god this is crazy…_

“Yeah” Diego ruffled his kid’s hair and whispered “My little superhero”

As the weeks went by, Five practiced with his uncles and aunt. He slowly learned to control his powers and not only to use them when he was getting thrown off somewhere. He was a natural, he loved his powers. More precisely, he loved that he could be like the rest of his family. 


	5. Claire & California

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4 YEARS OLD
> 
> 1- meeting Claire  
> 2- Playing with Luther at the beach  
> 3- Loosing Five at the mall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this one but the next one's so much better

_**June 9th , 2014** _

“We’re in LA! We’re in LA! We’re in LA!” Vanya, Klaus, and Five chanted together in the back of the cab taking them from the airport too.

The trio had just disembarked a calm three-hour flight to California where they were going to meet the new member of their family, Claire!

Vanya brushed the four-year-old’s hair and asked “Are you excited to meet your new cousin, Five?”

“Yep!” Five replied with his usual cocky smile.

Claire’s story was pretty blurry. Allison had met this guy, Patrick, and they had been dating for a year. When they broke up. The story was so dramatic, lousy, and messy that it made the news, it was a long month of public fights and insults between the two. Patrick ended up ghosting her for seven full months, which is why he only found out that Allison was pregnant when they ran into each other a couple of days before her due date. He freaked out and convinced himself it wasn’t his child. Allison was heartbroken until she realized she could do this herself, she didn’t need that asshole. She had her family to help her, in fact, they all took some days off and ran to her side the moment she went into labor.

“You do know she’s a baby, right? She can’t talk, or walk, or play with you yet. All babies do is sleep, eat, and poop.” Klaus intervened in the conversation and proudly listened to Five giggling at the word 'poop'.

The frown Five gave at this new knowledge was undeniably hilarious “That sounds so, boring”

“Nah I think she’s living the life” Klaus exclaimed from the front “No responsibility, everyone thinks you’re cute, it’s a dream”

“My dream is to be Batman” Five said with an adorable grin. He was going through a phase and was obsessed with a new superhero every two months. “And my dad would be Robin”

Klaus giggled at the thought of Diego dressing up in tight colorful spandex for his son. Unfortunately, Ben wasn’t there to laugh with him and Diego wasn’t there to glare, because they both had to stay in NYC to work.

“Ok! We’re here!” The car parked and the three of them looked out the window and their jaws dropped at the huge beach house. “Wow”

“Allison!” Five teleported right to the front door where his aunt greeted him with the tightest of hugs

“Oh Fivey! I’ve missed you honey” Allison kissed him and left him a big red lipstick stain on the front. “My little cutie”

Behind her stood Luther, he had moved in with her to help (constantly repeating that they were sleeping in different rooms). “Hi Five, how are you, buddy?”

“Good” Five smiled and wrapped his skinny arms around Luther’s legs who patted his shoulders awkwardly. The little one didn’t waste a second to ask “Where’s Claire? I want to meet her”

The adults chuckled and Allison took his hand to lead him to the living room where the baby was laying silently in the crib, she picked her up carefully and sat on the couch “Here she is, that’s your little cousin”

Five sat beside his aunt and looked at Claire, with the rest of his family standing in a circle also making googly eyes at the baby. Five remembered what Ben had said about not talking loudly around babies because it could scare them, so he just waved his hand and whispered as low as he could “Nice to meet you”

All their hearts dropped and the room was filled with ‘Awn’ for the following hours.

_**June 11th , 2014** _

“Hadn’t seen the beach in like three years!” Klaus said sitting down on his towel under the huge umbrella Luther set up “I remember the Bahamas, eight days of sun, margaritas, and dic-”

“AH! Who wants to build a sandcastle?” Luther cut Klaus off before he could curse just in front of Five

“Me” the four-year-old nodded and picked up his bucket full of water toys “Come on Luther”

Luther had made it clear that he would not take off his clothes and go into the water, but after hours of whining Five convinced him to play in the sand with him.

While the girls played with the baby and Klaus tanned, the two others ran around the beach having fun. It took hours to finish their castle, then they played some soccer, fly a kite, and Luther even bought him a giant penguin from a nearby shop.

Before they left, Five looked up at his uncle and mumbled, “Are you going to visit us in New York more?”

Luther’s eyes widened “You want me to visit more?”

“Of course” Five smiled and held his uncle’s hand “We could play more often”

Luther’s heart grew at that moment. He didn’t think Five cared about him at all. He didn’t think his nephew even knew his name considering they only saw each other on holidays and birthdays. “We could, I would love that”

“Me too!” Five stated and hugged Luther “You’re fun!”

 _I am?_ Luther thought _Man, no way this kid is part Diego. I really like him_

**_June 12th , 2014_ **

They were spending the day at the mall today, shopping for anything they liked and it was all completely paid for by Allison’s protagonist role in last summer’s blockbuster movie.

“Can’t believe your daughter’s first outing is to the mall” Vanya laughed as she walked beside her sister.

Allison smirked, as if she had planned this, she was walking with a big beach hat covering her face and some expensive “I know, my baby is going to dress like a princess”

“OMG! I can’t wait to use her as my model for baby clothes?” Klaus exclaimed

“Since when do you do baby clothes?” Luther asked from behind.

“Maybe that could be my next project” A couple of months ago, Klaus had started working looking for a real career and decided to continue his passion for fashion. He was taking a couple of classes in a university paid by his savings, he got an internship that he adored in local New-York city fashion brands, and he was growing on social media with constant posts of his outfits.

“Oh ok, good luck” Luther smiled, he didn’t quite understand his siblings' passions but he respected it and supported it as much as possible. Vanya had her music, Klaus had fashion, Allison had acting, Ben had literature, he had astronomy and Diego had… well, Diego had Five.

“Thanks” Klaus looked down at his nephew who was holding his hand and blew him a kiss “With my diva niece and nephew as models I’ll make millions!”

Five saw this sudden attention as an opportunity to manipulate his uncle “Can we get ice cream please?”

“Of course honey! Anything you want”

They stood in line for a while, asked for six ice cream cones, and sat on a bench to eat before going out. It was all fun until the baby started crying and suddenly all eyes were on her. Everyone was desperately looking for her pacifier: Allison emptying her purse, Vanya looking in the baby lag, Luther looking on the stroller basket, and Klaus rocking her for her to calm down. It took about five minutes before Luther found it and shortly after Claire was a quiet angel again.

New problem.

“Where’s Five?’ Vanya was the first to notice and immediately went red in the face.

Their world went silent for all of them, their heat’s dropping all a one, they lost their four-year-old nephew on an immense, crowded mall in a city full of pedophiles.

“Oh my god.”  
“FIVE! FIVE? WHERE ARE YOU?”  
“Excuse me- have you seen a little boy with a red hoodie, brown hair, and big green eyes?”

A million things went through their minds, sweaty palms, blurry visions, and dizzy heads spinning all around screaming “FIVE! FIVE?”

Vanya’s panic made her run from side to side, looking through every glassy store door and looking behind every trash can. Klaus practically lost his mind and just screamed his nephew’s name over and over again while making everyone around think he was a crazy man yelling a number. Luther was staying as sane as possible, his palms sweating more than ever, his face red with stress, his heart racing, and his lips trembling like crazy when he asked every passing person if they had seen his nephew. Allison just glued herself to the stroller and froze, feeling dizzy, ears ringing, and on the verge of fainting from the million scenarios going through her mind.

Finally, the nightmare stopped when a little hand came back to Klaus’s, it was Five standing with tearful eyes looking up at him “I’m here”

Klaus didn’t lose a moment to drop his knees on the floor and tightly hold the four-year-old in his arms, repeatedly kissing his forehead and sobbing into his hair. “I found him! He’s here!”

“Five! Dear lord- never scare us like that again” Vanya ran to the next, grabbing his bony shoulders and promising herself to not let him go until he was back with his father. She knew that he was her responsibility while Diego and she wouldn’t risk something like this happening ever again.  
Allison just watched them from far, turning to her best friend and whispering “I didn’t move”

Luther, still too shaken up to talk much, just threw her a confused look “What?”

“My nephew disappeared and I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move.” Allison explained as she stared at Five, her eyes watery and her hands shaking “What about my motherly instincts, wasn’t I supposed to react? To look for him? What if I ever lose Clare?”

“Hey” Luther put his hands on her shoulder and tried his best to comfort her “You know you’re a great mother, this has nothing to do with your parenting skills, you were just taken by surprise. Claire can’t walk yet so don’t worry about this now, let’s take it step by step okay?”

“Okay”

The siblings ended up buying Five’s silence with a pair of colorful running shoes that shinned with disco lights with every step. The child wore them with a big smile on his face and seemed to have completely forgotten about the accident by the time they got back to the parking “Five, you promise you will not tell your dad, right?”

“Yep” Five looked down at his beloved new shoes and none of them ever spoke about that day again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this one but the next one's so much better


	6. Kindergarten & Thanksgiving &  Skipping a grade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 YEARS OLD 
> 
> 1- Five's first day of school = a very stressed child and three extremely stressed adults  
> 2- Thanksgiving, they meet Sissy  
> 3- Five's skipping a grade hihi (Plus Ben meets Jill YAY!)

_**August 30th, 2015** _

Little four-year-old Five Hargreeves is facing the scariest day of his life yet, the first day of kindergarten.

On the previous week, Vanya had taken her nephew to Target for his school supplies. They came back with three large bags full of the most expensive crayons, glue sticks, and stickers, plus a flashy red ‘Cars’ backpack and the cutest animal notebooks. The kid wrote '5' on every single thing and reorganized all his stuff every night in anticipation.

Luther and Allison had sent him a gift, an original ‘Umbrella Academy’ lunchbox from 2002, along with a bunch of posters, figurines of all six members, and a ‘Good luck!’ card. The boy loved it and took them all to school on the first day.

Since Ben worked close to the school and Klaus was basically his own boss, they had both volunteered to be there for the big day. So here they were, Diego was anxiously driving, Klaus was sitting beside him playing with the radio, Five was in the back hugging his backpack and biting his fingers stressfully, and Ben was beside him holding the boxy lunchbox he had filled with an apple juice box, some Oreos, an orange, and a fluffernutter.

Everything was peaceful until Diego parked the car “Alright, we’re here Five”

“Are you ready for a happy first day Fivey?” Klaus turned to face him with a big smile and a baby voice, and instead of smiling back, Fivey frowned.

“NO!” The kid cried “I DON’T WANT TO GO!”

Five can be intense, manipulative, and even sneaky at times. Still, he was normally quiet, polite, and he didn’t often turn to violence. Well today, all that was going to change.

“What do you mean? I thought you were excited, buddy?” His dad asked

“NO! NO! NO!” the kid screamed louder than ever. None of them had ever seen Five throw a real tantrum until now: he was red like a tomato, eyes were filled with angry tears, and feet kicking strongly.

“Ok just breathe, let’s get out of the car, okay?” Ben tried to take the kid’s seatbelt off when the five-year-old threw him a punch in the face “OW! DAMIT FIVE”

“Oh, that’s going to leave a scar” Klaus tried his best to not laugh and to be helpful, he turned to their last resource: blackmail “Five, if you get out, I am going to buy you a dinosaur! How about that? Didn’t you want a pet?”

“DINOSAUR DON’T EXIST! YOU’RE STUPID!” Of course, Five was too smart for this

“Ok, I'm not dealing with this” Diego mumbled to himself, he got out of the car and opened the back door to face his son with his angriest face on “Hey! No! You stop that right now Five! Stop!”

Five wasn’t used to getting screamed at, which is why he instantly froze and listened to his dad with his mouth opened.

Diego continued “I need you to get out of the car, walk to that school, and behave like a big boy. Now! You can’t act like a baby at kindergarten. Ok?”

Five stared for a minute, in shock from his dad’s scary look, and unsurprisingly decided to disobey: he spatial jumped out of the car with a devilish smirk. He knew very well he couldn’t use his powers in public, they had discussed it over and over again for the past two years.

“Damn it Five!” Diego hissed while the other adults looked around to make sure no one saw Five’s little act. Diego pointed his finger at Five again and spoke louder than before “Listen Five, if you don’t want to cooperate I’ll send you to a damn Academy for bad kids in another country, far from here! Is that what you want? You want that?”

“Diego!” Klaus poked his shoulder and hissed “You don’t say that to a 5-year-old!”

Ben pushed Diego away, kneeled in front of Five to take his small hand “Buddy, you know I’m a teacher, right? And I promise school is going to be so fun! You’ll learn new things, read more books, make new friends, and do fun activities every day!”

Five’s unimpressed look was gold. “Ew”

Again, Klaus turned around to hide his laugh, and Diego had one last idea to get Five to school “Listen here kiddo, I’m going to tell you a little secret, okay? All those other kids in there are pretty stupid. You are by far the smartest, most fearless, and handsome boy I know, so you need to go in there and show all those dummies who’s the best. Do you get it? You want to be the boss, or you want to be a quitter?”

His two brothers seemed very confused with Diego’s technique, but somehow it worked perfectly. The little one raised his chin with confidence, straighten his back, took his lunchbox from Ben’s hand, strongly took Diego’s hand, and finally replied “Ok, let’s go.”

That was the exact moment where the arrogance of Five Hargreeves came to life. He didn’t think he was the best, he knew he was the best.

Diego chuckled at his son’s reply and successfully led Five to his kindergarten class.

_**November 26, 2020** _

Allison had all called all her siblings and bullied them over the phone, warning them that she was going to New-York for them to have Thanksgiving together for the first time ever and they were all forced to attend.

Surprisingly it wasn’t that hard to convince them, they were all single and had nothing better to do on a free Thursday night. They had all gathered at Klaus’ and Ben’ place near the hotel where Allison, her daughter, and her best friend Luther were staying (in separate beds, of course, because they had been living together for seven years and co-parenting Claire in the most awkward sibling relationship ever.)

“Baby Claire’s first Thanksgiving” Klaus exclaimed from the living room where he was holding his 6 months old niece “She’s gorgeous”

As they all cuddled her, Five just sat alone in the dining room silently rolling his eyes in annoyance. “When’s Vanya coming?”

“I don’t know buddy, she said she was bringing a friend so maybe she’s picking them up” Ben replied, serving the store-made salads in fancy plates on the table. He and his brothers had gone and bought a pre-made turkey, frozen potatoes, salads, and ice-cream for dessert.

“Thank god we bought all the food, we all know it would have been a disaster if we had made it ourselves” Diego joked next, already looking a little tipsy.

“The kitchen would be burning down by now” Allison laughed with a nostalgic expression, they hadn’t had many happy memories altogether growing up. She was happy to see their children seeing the better side of them.

The night went on, they all talked, ate some hummus, and admired baby Claire for another hour until Vanya finally arrived. Vanya and her “friend”, a beautiful blond girl holding a toddler in her arms, entered the apartment giggling.

Vanya helped her with her coat like a true gentleman and presented her to her family “Guys, these are Sissy and Harland”

“Nice to meet you all, thank you for letting us spend Thanksgiving with you,” Sissy said with her clear southern accent “Vanya has told me everything about you!”

“I’m not sure that’s good” Luther mumbled just loud enough to get a dirty look from all his siblings, so he cleared his throat and changed the subject “He’s adorable, by the way”

“Thank you! My little angel” She kissed the top of the head of her 2-year-old son and put him down “I made pumpkin pie!”

They sat down to eat, all around the table like a normal happy family. They all talked about their jobs, and their accomplishment this year, and soon found out that Sissy was such a caring woman. She was a nurse in a child hospital, she was sadly going through a divorce and working extra hours to pay for her autistic’s son therapy, and she met Vanya when she almost ran over her six months ago.

“So are you two like together?” Diego asked casually during a moment of silence and just made it awkward for a second “I mean that’s totally cool, just wondering”

“That’s two out of six siblings ma’am” Klaus laughed and high-fived little blushing Vanya.

The tension was dilated a little when Five got up from his seat, crawled under the table stand in front of Sissy “Would you like to see my helicopter?”

Sissy just smiled at the cute boy and nodded, sitting down in the living room with him and with her own son on her lap. They played with the telecommand helicopter Luther brought for Five, they talked about animals and colors, and they watched TV until both boys were sleeping. She had never seen her son so cheerful around other kids, something about Five was rather calming apparently.

“Sorry, you had to babysit all night” Vanya excused sitting down in the living room with them “You know, Five doesn’t usually get along with strangers. He must really like you”

And apparently, he did, because from that day on he would constantly ask Vanya about Sissy, he would run to the door whenever there was a knock hoping to be her, he would beg to invite her and her son to family outings and weekend dinners. Slowly, Siisy did take more and more place in their lives, and Five couldn’t be happier about it.

_**June 3rd, 2016** _

“SHUT UP LOSERS!” Diego hissed with anger at his siblings sitting beside him. “It’s about to start!”

Today was Five’s last day of school and his kindergarten teacher invited all the parents to a theatre act they had been working on.

Diego was still in his police uniform, sweating and panting like crazy because he had to run to get here in time. He was watching this during a half an hour break he begged to not miss this precious moment.

Klaus was holding the camera up already planning on making a DVD out of this. Not only was he proud of his nephew, but he had also volunteered to work on these kids’ costumes and was anxious to see the result in the final take.

Vanya was holding her phone out with a facetime call so that Allison and Luther could see it live from the other side of the country.

Ben was sitting on the edge of his seat with a proud look and a bright smile, he had practiced this with Ben over and over again. “I can’t wait to see him!”

The lights turned down and the room went quiet. A strong white light appeared on top of a stressed little Five holding a fake microphone and dressed in his finest suit made by his uncle Klaus “Once upon a time, in a kingdom far from here….”

Ben almost had tears in his eyes: turns out, Five was an awful actor. Thankfully his teacher took notice of his excellent memory, his confidence, and his amazing articulation and made him the narrator!

He told the story of the wizard of Oz perfectly, he didn’t forget one word, he didn’t miss any pronunciation, and his little adorable voice stole the show. At the end of his script, he didn’t even wait for the applause he just raised his hands up and joyfully whispered a little too loudly “DAD! I DID IT!”

The audience laughed and applauded, and Five kept his chin up as he walked out to change.

While they waited for the kid, the group of siblings got cornered by a stressed looking young teacher who watched the show from behind “Hi, may I speak to mister Hargreeves?”

“Yes” out of habit all three men replied and the teacher laughed.

“I mean, Five’s dad” she explained

“That would be me” Diego took a step forward and quickly glanced at his watch knowing his break was almost over “How can I help you?”

“My name is Miss Jill, I’m a second-grade teacher and I actually have a proposition for you.”

Her lips were moving but all Ben could hear was an angelic melody coming from the most gorgeous woman he had ever met. She had big brown eyes with long eyelashes, a perfectly symmetrical face with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and the way she delicately moved her hand to hand Diego an envelope left Ben speechless. _Wow_ , he thought.

While Ben was drooling over the woman, Jill started talked with a proud smile “This is a letter for you, it’s an invitation for Five to skip first grade”

“…What?” Diego didn’t know how to react, _was this his Five? Was it even possible to start skipping grades this young?_

Jill continued “I’ve seen your son’s work and I’ve gotten to talk to him quite a lot. He is by far the brightest 5-year-old I have ever met. According to his teacher learns at a fascinating rate, his vocabulary is incredibly advanced, and his reading is impeccable. Especially in math, Five is ironically a natural with numbers! Even in PE he’s the fastest and strongest one, he might be the shortest but the others are kind of scared of him”

 _Damn, really?_ Diego thought. He knew Five was smart but this took him by surprise. _It actually made sense, that boy_ _acts more and more like an entitled smartass._

“I hope you don’t mind but I actually spent a couple of lunch breaks with him, since he hates going to the part with the other kindergarteners, and he was able to understand third-grade math in only a couple of minutes.” Miss Jill continued, talking fast with excitement in her voice. She opened her backpack to take out a green field with cat stickers and handed it to them “Look, I also tested his English with an essay. I asked him to write about something he loved, and he wrote 100 words describing his family. The grammar is pretty good and I had never seen a kindergartener write so many words, so fast, and so maturely. I guess what I’m saying is, Five’s a little genius!”

Five’s essay left them speechless “Oh my god…”

It was heart-warming, how he talked about his dads, his aunts, his uncles, and his cousin with so much love. It almost made them cry. Even the boxy handwriting was beautiful. On the other side of the paper was a drawing of their family and clearly art was the one thing Five wasn’t good at buying this was still going straight to the fridge.

“Anyway, here is the letter of the inscription. You have a couple of weeks to reply and you can always email the principal or her secretariat for questions. Although they often reply late so I added a note with my own email since he would probably be in my class.” She finished explaining with excitement, happy to meet a kid who’s actually passionate about learning

Diego’s brain was going fifty miles per hour: _was Five ready for second grade? What if he’s too young? What if he says ‘no’ and denies his son to graduate at 16? What if he says ‘yes’ and his sons end up hating him forever?_

Meanwhile, his siblings all had smiles on their faces thinking about their little nephew becoming a well-paid engineer or doctor, or some revolutionary scientist.

Vanya turned to Diego and whispered, “What do you think?”

“I-… I don’t know” he was still processing the news “What do you guys think?” Ben bit his lips and replied carefully “If you want my honest opinion, I think Five’s going to thank you for this. The smartest kids in my class are the ones who skipped a grade, it gave them confidence and peaked their potential. Plus, isn’t he always talking about how he gets bored in class? maybe he needs a challenge.” Diego seemed a little uneased “What if he doesn’t fit in? What if it traumatizes him or something”

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh “Diego, do you know Five at all? If there is one thing I know, is that Five can defend himself. Nobody’s going to mess with that kid”

Diego nodded, yeah Five’s scary. He’s going to be okay. “Okay, should I ask him first?”

“Yes, if you judge it necessary.” Jill politely said, secretly knowing that little Five would 100% say yes.

They talked a little more before Diego had to go back to work, Vanya too needed to run for her orchestra practice, and Klaus took Five for ice cream. Ben took it as an opportunity to shoot his shot and look for the stunning teacher he had just met.

He looked through the halls and discretely peaked in empty classrooms until he ran into her awkwardly “Hey”

“Hi again” Miss Jill stopped in front of him “Is everything okay, mister Hargreeves”

“Just call me Ben” He tried to sound calm and confident even if his heart was racing and he was breathing heavily after running.

“Alright,” she smiled, and with a spark on her eyes grew bigger “Are you okay?”

He didn’t realize he had been staring directly at her eyes for a while now “Yes, sorry, it’s hard to not get lost in your eyes”

She giggled and tucked her hair behind her ear nervously “Thank you”

“Eh…” Ben blushed, he was nervous but also too awestruck to think about his next move. For once, he spontaneously asked,” Would you like to get coffee with me?”

“I would truly love that” Jill blushed back and reached in her backpack for a small yellow note to write her number with a little heart at the end “here you go!”

“Thank you” Ben’s smile bigger than ever and hands shaking from excitement “Can I call you tonight without looking desperate”

She laughed, a sound so glorious it made him smile even bigger, and she replied “I’ll be waiting”

Ben didn’t stop smiling all week. He ended up going on a coffee date with Jill and they talked for hours. They had so much in common, starting from the fact that they were both teachers, they both loved literature and history, they were total nerds and grew up as the shy ones in big families. They got along perfectly they made each other laugh, and there was no doubting they made an excellent couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter in a couple of hours!


	7. Moving in & Asthma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6 YEARS OLD (on the first one he's like 5 and 3/4 lmao) 
> 
> 1- Diego and Five move out of Vanya's place and find their own apartment  
> 2- Diego has to run to the hospital with his baby and it's a whole rollercoaster of emotions :(

**_March 24th, 2016_ **

“Well Fivey, welcome to your new home!” Diego asked Five who was sitting on top of his shoulders “Do you like it, my little troublemaker?”

With a huge smile on his face, Five answered “YES! I LOVE IT!”

Five spaced jumped and landed on his feet in front of his dad, who brushed his dark hair and exclaimed “We’re going to live here, just you and I! Like a boy cave!”

“YAY!” The excitement in his boy’s voice made him proud to have found this place. It was a small apartment, near his office, near the kid’s school, and where Five could have his own room for once in his life.

On the day prior, his siblings had helped him move the furniture and most boxes to the new apartment. Today, after finalizing the paperwork, Five and Diego were about to spend their first night in their own place.

“I’m going to miss Vanya” Five casually stated as he looked at the photo frames they had already placed in the living room.

“I know buddy, me too, but she’s going to visit a lot! And she’s still going to babysit you from time to time” Diego explained. Truth was, as much as he loved his sister they couldn't keep living together much longer. The two couldn't go a day without bickering, plus Vanya needed more space for her job and her personal life. He had finally decided to move out when he walked in on his precious baby sister…. doing it with Sissy. It was not fun. It was very uncomfortable. He couldn’t look at her in the eye for a week.

Diego spent the entire day rearranging the furniture, emptying some boxes, and childproofing every corner. Meanwhile, Five played in his room, still not believing he had his own bedroom after sharing a bedroom with his dad his entire life. The kid had even written a list of all the things he wanted to add: his own library, a tea table, a piano, a dollhouse, some disco lights, etc. “Dad, can I get all this for my birthday?"

“Sure dude, just email that list to Allison” he joked, knowing their budget will be a little tight for the first few months of living in their new apartment. “How about we go to sleep? We’ve had quite a busy day and we need to wake up early and finish our clean up"

Five wasn’t happy about it but he was too tired to argue “Ugh okay”

They went through their normal night routine: a bubble bath, a warm glass of almond milk, brushing teeth, putting on pajamas, kiss on the forehead, and sleep!

Diego finished showering and entered his new bedroom to find his son pretending to sleep on his bed “Buddy, what are you doing?”

Five shut his eyes tighter together and loudly pretended to snore like a cartoon. It was adorable, and Diego hated discipline, but parenting was a full-time job

“Let’s go Five, back to your bedroom” Diego picked the whining kid up and walked him back to his own twin bed to tuck him in a second time.

Diego dressed in his own pajamas, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep. He didn’t even last 30 minutes before his bedroom door opened and a pair of small steps ran to him “Dad?”

“What?” Diego asked with his eyes still closed, clearly annoyed.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Too bad, go back to bed”

Five didn't move, he glared at his dad and shook his shoulder “Dad, can I sleep here?”

“Nope,” Diego got up, and once again picked up the kid to take him back to his own bedroom. He felt somewhat bad, but he had been snuggling with Five every night since he was born, the kid was six years old and had never slept alone before. If Diego didn’t fix that now, Five was going to be sleeping with his dad until he went to college. 

Diego tucked Five in for the third time, and Five's bitchy attitude was at it's highest, almost on the verge of throwing a tantrum. This time, Diego locked his bedroom door before laying down again.

New record: this time it only lasted 10 minutes before Five spaced jumped right beside him on his bed. Diego groaned “Sometimes I forget you can do that.”

Five had tears coming down his puffy cheeks now, but he was too prideful to let them all go “I don’t want to sleep alone”

“Why?”

Five’s put on his best puppy dog eyes and his most adorable tone “It’s scary; it’s dark, and there are weird noises. What if there’s a ghost?”

“Ghost don’t exist” Diego lied

Five incuriously eyed him “Yes they do, Klaus told me”

“Damit Klaus” Diego cursed under his breath and sighed, he was so tired.

“Can you check?” Five asked with his most childish voice. Diego reached his song to turn on the flashlight and took Five’s little hand to ‘look for ghosts’ in his son’s bedroom. They looked at every corner, inside the closet, under every furniture, and even took a quick look at the bathroom and down the shot hall.

“Okay, we just checked everything and there is nothing to be scared about. Can you please go to sleep in your bed now?”

Five struggled to find another excuse to not go back to his empty and cold room, and when he couldn’t he finally broke down in sobs. He wasn’t used to being this emotional, but it was way past his bedtime and he couldn't control himself any longer. Plus this wasn't his normal environment, he was scared, he felt alone, and for the first time in his life, Vanya wasn't here to hold him as he cried in her hair.

Yeah, Diego really felt like an asshole. He picked up his little boy from the floor where he was hiding his face between his knees and whispered carefully “Would it help if I lay with you, on our bed?”

The boy just nodded, hiding his face on his dad’s neck and grabbing him tightly.

So, they did, they lay down together in the small bed and after only ten minutes Five was snoring for real this time. Diego slowly walked off, leaving the peaceful child sleep and going back to bed himself.

This tiring routine continued for two more weeks before Five finally spent his first night alone without crying, without tantrums, and without nightmares. He was a big boy now.

**_November 30th, 2016_ **

“Five was sitting upside down on the couch, stuffing his mouth with Oreo and watching ‘Power Rangers’, when a knock at the door interrupted him “DAD! THE DOOR!”

Diego looked dead inside. He had worked extra-hours all week while his son stayed with his brothers and sister. The weekend was a moment for him to sleep while the 5-year-old entertained himself. He walked through the door with messy hair, a dirty white t-shirt, sleepy eyes, and some drool on his cheek. He ignored Five’s giggle and opened the door to greet an old lady “Mrs. Hovington, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Mrs. Hovington, the owner of the building where they had been, stood in her signature serious pose “Good afternoon, young man.”

Diego gave his best good boy smile and tried to not lose it when the woman rushed inside the apartment and walked fastly to Five's bedroom "Oh no"

"Lady, why are you here?" Diego tried his best to be polite even though he felt taken off guard and did not appreciate it "What's wrong?”

“You’re doomed!” She took out a pen and wrote their apartment number on her hand where there were already three others "You have fungus behind this wall, young man, and so does the rest of the apartment on this floor. We are remodeling everything as soon as possible and pay for the coast, I'll give you some updates soon"

"I- no, wait!" Diego just watched as the old woman ran out, probably heading to another apartment. With no explanation and a little bit of worried, Diego still decided to brush it off and told himself Eh, they'll handle it, it's going to be fine.

He was wrong.

It was a week later when Ben and Klaus came for dinner and brought pizza and fries, and for the first time ever Five didn't want pizza. Immediately, Diego worried "That's not like you kid, you okay?" 

"I'm not hungry" Five shrugged, he looked tired and pale. Mostly because he hadn't slept the night before, he's been coughing uncontrollably for two days now. The kid was breathing through his mouth, he was clearly sick “My chest hurts"

Klaus didn't give the kid a heads up before sticking his hand to his forehead and gasp "Dude he's burning up, he must have a fever"

His dad and uncles looked somewhat confused and worried but they didn't want to scare him so they just brushed it off for now. Ben picked the child up and reassured him "It's probably just a cold, you're going to be okay Fivey"

"Are you sure?" the kid asked looking scared, he had recently learned what 'death' meant and was going through a scaredy-cat phase. 

"I promise" Ben nodded and kissed his warm forehead.

Klaus didn't help when he got closer, snickered, and took advantage of his nephew's irrational fear of needles "If not we'll go to the hospital and they'll give you a big shot.”

Five's eyes widened in fear and he immediately teleported to his bedroom. Diego shot his brother a glare and put his middle finger up, knowing well that the kid's fear was probably inherited from himself, "Anyway, I'll go tuck him in bed, he needs some rest" 

The night went on, Five felt asleep sooner than normally which honestly felt incredibly wrong. Meanwhile, Diego took it as an opportunity to stay up with his brothers messing around as silently as possible and getting wasted with an entire bottle of tequila. By 2 am, they were all sleeping in the living room as early 200's music played in the background.

Until Klaus shook Diego awake “Bro- Wake up! Do you hear that?”

Diego frowned “What?”

“...it sounds like wheezing.”

Diego rolled his eyes “It's nothing, let me asleep" 

“Diego!" Klaus insisted "It's coming from Five's room and it's freakishly loud, go check"

Diego groaned and kicked, but his fatherly instincts couldn't let him ignore this. He got up and dragged himself to Five's bedroom, and thank god he did.

As soon as he opened the door, he could hear the wheezing echoing loudly and coming from his adorable son covered in sweat and looking paler than ever. The boy was clearly struggling to breathe as he anxiously gasping for air, his big green eyes were full of tears, he looked tense and frighten, and he was shaking violently under his 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' cover 

Diego was panicking immediately running to his son and wrapping his arms around the boy. The kid could definitely not talk, which is why he hadn't called him sooner, and he could barely move his own arms to wrap them around his dad's neck. Diego turned red, looking around in desperation, and started shouting for his brothers “Klaus! Ben! FIVE IS NOT BREATHING" 

That last sentence was enough to put both Klaus and Diego on their feet "What?" Call 911 NOW!”

"He's not fucking breathing! CALL 911! NOW!" Klaus did as he was told and dialed 911, meanwhile, ran around looking for Five's shoes and coat, and Diego was too shocked to move away from his boy “You’re gonna be ok honey, don’t worry, just hold on a bit more, please!”

Five passed out before the ambulance came, his lips turned purple alarmingly fast and he turned cold, and for a moment Diego thought this going to be the worst day of his life “NONONONONO! FIVE! WAKE UP, PLEASE!”

A couple of minutes later, or what felt like an eternity for the Hargreeves, they stood in the hospital waiting room stressfully until a doctor called them calmly "Are you Five Hargreeves' family?"

Ben rushed to answer, knowing Diego was still too traumatized by the picture of his unconscious son in his arms “Yes we are, how is he?” What happened?”

The doctor's expression was reassuring as he answered “He is healthy and awake, he’s not in any sort of danger anymore. You can all breathe now”

Klaus dramatically hissed “Too soon, man.”

The doctor ignored him and looked at Diego “Your son seems to have mild asthma, nothing too serious but he'll need an inhaler with him from now on since it might act up again. What happened tonight was a severe asthma attack, and it could have been triggered by allergies, a strong flu, mold, smoke, humidity-”

Diego's brain clicked and he replied " the fucking mold! It's in his room, they were supposed to come to fix it this next week"

The doctor understood “Well there you have it, he can go back home now but I advise you against taking him there again. At least until the mold is gone, he should not sleep in that room. 

After the doctor went away, they headed to Five’s hospital room to bring him home, but before they could get him Diego froze and sat down on a bench to cry. "This is my fault. He was sick and I didn't look up the signs, I didn't take it seriously, I almost killed him!

Klaus sat down beside him and held his brother’s shoulders “Hey, no, stop that. This is not your fault, you didn’t cause the mold, it happens! Five's okay, and he’ll get better, and now we can get him out of his room for now and look up 'asthma' to be prepared. You learn on the job D, and that's okay.”

Diego was not ok, he replied with trembling lips “No, Klaus, that’s not the point! Five is not a dog, he’s a child! I'm making so many mistakes with him, I don’t know anything about kids! What was I thinking? Do you know how many times I've lost him in stores and parks? Do you know how much junk food we eat cause I don't know how to cook and he hates greens? Dude, just last week I forgot to make him take a bath FOR A WEEK! You know how irresponsible that is?" 

While he rambled on between sobs, his two brothers looked at each other not knowing what to do, They had both spent a lot of time with Diego and Five so they knew how hard it was for Diego. They knew how tired, and stressed, and honestly a little disastrous their brother was since he became a father. 

Diego tried to keep his tears in to continue "This time he's okay, but what if he gets really hurt one day? What if he ends up really fucked up? Or even more, fucked up than us? What if he grows up and hates me?”

Klaus took a deep breath and prepared to tell Diego something he would remember for the rest of his life “Six years ago, you knew absolutely nothing about children. You didn’t know how to put a kid to bed, or how to put a dipper, or how to handle tantrums, you knew absolutely nothing. You were shit, and you still kind of are."

Ben kicked his feet and glared "Gee Klaus"

"Let me finish" Klaus didn't often have the privilege of being taken seriously, but right he looked dead serious "You know what you did do right? You immediately loved him unconditionally, you spoiled him as much as you could, you provided him an accepting family who would do anything for him and that's something we never had. You stepped up, you did if your job as a dad, and you did your best, and the most important thing is that Five is not an orphan, he is not like us. He is a happy kid who loves his life and loves his dad." 

Diego was bawling his eyes out by now, but he felt a little less like shit "Thank you, I really needed that" 

Klaus smiled warmly at him and gave him a side hug. They ended up taking a sleepy Five back to Ben and Klaus's place where Diego and his son stayed in the bed-sofa. They only stayed for the weekend and Monday morning Diego starting harassing the building staff for them to fix the mold, because he wan,t going through a scare like that ever again.

Nohing was going to happen to his baby boy.


End file.
